Dave Pine has altered the landscape of San Mateo County and the Bay Area – physically and politically.
When Pine delivered remarks when he first became president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors in 2014, he vowed to focus on a global issue that, at first glance, a small county could seemingly do little about: sea level rise.
“Sea level rise is one of the most serious consequences of climate change and it will have a profound effect on San Mateo County, which has more people and property at risk from the rising sea than any other county in California,” Pine said at the time.
Ten years later, Pine has put San Mateo County at the tip of the spear on two connected fronts: delivering carbon-free energy to 295,000 customers by creating Peninsula Clean Energy and developing local solutions to defend against rising seas by launching OneShoreline.
Tackling the cause of sea level rise and managing its effects are among the cornerstones of Pine’s legacy.
“The challenge of climate change is really a major issue of our time,” Pine said recently, “and we need to do everything we can at the local level to address these challenges.”
Pine is widely seen as a leader who transcended the limited powers of local jurisdictions to encompass regional and wider solutions to drive change.
"Dave Pine's visionary but also wise and steady leadership has delivered remarkable and lasting benefits for our San Francisco Bay, our county and the millions of Bay Area residents," said Debbie Ruddock, a Half Moon Bay councilmember who serves on the OneShoreline board of directors.
"He has been an inspirational innovator on many levels, not in the brat/break-things way of TED Talk celebs but by quietly rolling up his shirt sleeves and doing the work that needs to be done, listening to people and bringing them together, and staying the course through difficulties," Ruddock said. "His critical role in creation of the Bay Restoration Authority and OneShoreline were labors of love for people and the environment."
Yet Pine’s legacy extends beyond those accomplishments.
Following a career as an attorney in the high-tech sector, Pine joined the Board of Supervisors in May 2011 when he won a six-candidate race to fill a partial term in District 1. He won reelection in 2012, 2016 and 2020, his final race due to term limits.
He arrived in office as the pace of change sweeping the Peninsula was accelerating. With the Great Recession in the rear-view mirror, the local economy was taking off as social media giant Facebook opened its Menlo Park headquarters, San Francisco International Airport announced record passenger traffic and home prices soared.
In a county known for great wealth and an even greater cost of living, Pine launched and improved efforts to support individuals and families struggling to pay bills.
“For many in the county, it’s not the golden age. It’s more the gilded age,” he said during a State of the County address in 2018. “It’s characterized by rising income inequality. A family of four making $90,000 living almost any place in the country would be doing pretty well but here you struggle to make it.”
Here’s a look at some of his accomplishments, from helping low-wage workers put additional money in their pocket to keeping firearms out of the hands of suspected abusers:
He expanded opportunity
The studies are clear: a lack of affordable child care causes many women to reorganize their working lives, prompting some to forgo jobs and the financial independence that goes with employment.
“Dave Pine’s wise words were, ‘We need someone to wake up every day and think about child care,’” said Christine Padilla. “The result is Build Up San Mateo County,” a countywide initiative to improve the quality and availability of affordable child care Padilla leads and Pine helped to create.
Investing in quality child care can make significant progress on a number of fronts: allow more women to join the workforce, prepare more children for kindergarten and improve racial equity as low-paid child care providers are disproportionally composed of minority groups.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Pine helped steer a combination of local, state and federal funds to support child care providers as well as youth and library programs.
“The pandemic shined a light on the gap between the haves and the have nots here in San Mateo County,” Pine said in 2023. “What we have tried to accomplish with these investments is to really focus on programs and projects that address the most basic needs in our community to close that gap.”
Shoring up child care during the pandemic is just one of the family- and worker-friendly legacies Pine leaves behind.
Even as a robust local economy increased the number of jobs and lowered unemployment, wages have not kept pace. That prompted Pine and fellow supervisors to lift low-wage workers with a minimum wage that requires employers of all sizes to pay at least $17.46 an hour as of Jan. 1, 2025 for all time worked within the geographic boundaries of unincorporated San Mateo County. (The local minimum is nearly $1 higher (96 cents) than the state’s minimum wage.)
He also helped to establish the County’s Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement to fight wage theft and help ensure workers are treated respectfully in San Mateo County.
And with thousands of low-wage workers relying on County services for their basic needs, Pine helped to guide planning and development of the North County Wellness Center, a $132.5 million project now underway that will bring health care, dental care and more to residents in South San Francisco, Daly City and nearby communities.
He championed policies to reduce gun violence, access to firearms
Pine championed the creation of the San Mateo County Gun Violence Prevention Program and led efforts on the Board of Supervisors to allocate $2 million over two years to enforce removing guns from people who pose a threat. The result: the relinquishment or seizure of 260 pistols, 139 rifles and 62 shotguns October 2022 through October 2024.
The Gun Violence Prevention Program is among a series of firearms-safety measures introduced by Pine and unanimously approved by the Board:
- A safe storage ordinance, which applies to firearms owners in unincorporated areas
- A gun dealer ordinance, which requires firearms dealers in unincorporated areas to acquire a locally issued license, among other measures
- Providing financial support for gun buy-back events
“Supervisor Dave Pine's leadership in preventing firearms violence has been exemplary and provides a model for other policy leaders statewide,” said Julia Weber, a consultant with Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
“His stewardship of a convening that brought local leaders together helped secure funding and led to important policy changes around firearm relinquishment that have saved lives,” she said.
He helped people get where they need to go
Transit supporters have long dreamed of replacing Caltrain’s diesel locomotives with faster, quieter and cleaner electric engines. But the engines and infrastructure cost tens of millions of dollars, stalling the effort.
Then in 2020, voters in San Mateo, Santa Clara and San Francisco counties approved Measure RR, a one-eighth-cent sales tax providing the rail service with its first dedicated revenue source.
“With this victory, Caltrain has a bright future as it will now be able to provide congestion relief throughout the corridor by serving tens of thousands of new riders with a vastly improved, modernized rail system,” said Pine, who served as Caltrain Board Chair at the time.
“With new electric trains powered by clean energy, more frequent service, and stable and affordable fares, Caltrain will be able to realize its full potential as the backbone of public transit on the Peninsula,” Pine said.
Even before his work to pass Measure RR, Pine was instrumental in helping pass a revenue measure for numerous local transportation improvements. Measure W, a half-cent sales tax Pine supported passed in 2018, includes funds for highway projects, local street repair, grade separations for Caltrain tracks that intersect local streets, expanded bicycle and pedestrian facilities and improved transit connections.
Established California’s first local LGBTQ Commission
Today, on El Camino Real just south of San Mateo’s Central Park, the San Mateo County Pride Center hosts numerous events in a “safe and confidential welcoming environment.”
"Without the support, advocacy and leadership from Supervisor Pine, the San Mateo County Pride Center wouldn’t exist," said the center's director, Francisco "Frankie" Sapp. "He’s role-modeled what LGBTQ+ allyship looks like on an individual level and when applied on an institutional level."
A decade ago, before the U.S. Supreme Court Supreme Court ruled that states cannot ban same-sex marriage, San Mateo County with Pine's leadership established California’s first county or city commission focused “on the needs of the LGBTQ community.” (The name has since been expanded to LGBTQIA+.)
Now, on the third Tuesday of each month, the San Mateo County Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual Plus Commission meets at the Pride Center.
“It’s easy to take for granted the progress we’ve made in the LGBTQ community, but it didn’t happen by accident,” said Jason Galisatus, who worked to establish the commission. “It took people like Supervisor Pine to be courageous and stand up for our community.
“I’ll be forever grateful for his partnership and leadership in establishing the LGBTQ Commission and making the county an even more accepting place for all residents.”
Standing up for the lives and rights of women
On June 24, 2024, the two-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that overturned the federal right to an abortion, dozens of local civic leaders and residents rallied in support of women’s rights on the steps of Courthouse Square in Redwood City.
The highlight came when Pine, along with Supervisors Warren Slocum and Noelia Corzo, presented a $1 million check to Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, which operates three clinics in San Mateo County. The oversized check was symbolic but the $1 million was real, making good on a promise to ensure women have access to high-quality, local reproductive health care.
“What we need to be looking at is expanding women’s rights and expanding access to quality and affordable health care for women, not tearing down rights and services,” Pine said to the crowd.
Behind a calm demeanor, a “fierce fighter”
Pine grew up in New Hampshire (the Live Free or Die state) and won a seat in the House of Representatives at the age of 19 while a student at Dartmouth College. Years later, he ran in highly competitive elections in a political environment that has grown increasingly divisive.
Rather than sharpening his political edges, “Supervisor Pine has always comported himself with courtesy, kindness and decorum,” said Donna Colson, a member of the Burlingame City Council who also serves on the OneShorline board of directors.
“He listens attentively, makes thoughtful decisions and even if you do not agree with him, your relationship will emerge intact and stronger than ever and he will support and help you with that decision,” she said.
“And do not get me wrong,” Colson added, “underneath that quiet, calm exterior is a fierce fighter for everything that is good and right.”
He put the environment at the top of the County’s priority list
A decade ago, Pine was instrumental in creating the County’s Sustainability Department, one of the first local initiatives of its kind. Today, the department’s portfolio includes programs that range from waste reduction to promoting building electrification among many efforts to reduce the drivers of climate change.
This is in addition to his efforts at the regional level in founding Peninsula Clean Energy and OneShoreline and his service on the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority, where he played an instrumental role in the passage of Measure AA, the nine-county Bay Area parcel tax to fund shoreline projects that will protect and restore the Bay. He also serves on Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the nation’s oldest coastal zone agency, dedicated to the protection, enhancement and responsible use of the bay.
“Dave helped lead the commission’s Rising Sea Level Working Group from early in his tenure as a commissioner, and he was always one of the commissioners to whom staff and Chair (Zachary) Wasserman always turned to answer questions patiently, provide an on-the-ground perspective of how local governments work, and how best to advance resilience,” said Larry Goldzband, executive director of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission.
“We’ll really miss him.”